THOUGH JUST A DAY PAST ITS SELL-BY, IT DOES SMELL A BIT IFFY.

GINSTERS MEAT FEAST SLICE

Meat Feasts of any kind are a dangerous food zone. At the moment of selection, one always feels like one wants a Meat Feast. When faced with the thing in front of your face, it can be quite a different matter. Logic suggests a varied feast is a better all-round experience.

On this occasion, though, it’s a reasonably pleasant surprise – indeed, the incursion of Ginsters into a crowded market can be considered a qualified success.

The viscous liquid element of the pasty is complex and a tad oaky. It combines the aggression of Vladimir Putin with the ambiguity of Vladimir Putin. It’s certainly superior to any supermarket minestrone in a plastic tub, and arguably closer to my mother’s home-made effort, albeit still some way short. There were even several suggestions of vegetable involvement.

You may notice that meat does not get the primary mention in this summing up of a supposed Meat Feast, and indeed, the perversity of this snack is that the meat element of the pasty is a notably subdued competitor for your saliva’s affections. There was something to chew, a little to taste, but far less chewing and tasting than a reasonable level of carnivorous feasting should entail.

This is undoubtedly a decent effort in the convenience baked goods market. Within its genre, it offers an element of intrigue and dare where once there was paucity. All this said, there seems something strangely wrong here – a sense that Ginsters have overstretched the very essence of what it means to be Ginsters, Better experiences of products from this company can be found when meat fixation or feasting are not primary drivers.

All analysis aside, this is still an undeniably a solidly average food – nothing more or less. Complexity does not necessarily transcend innately average nature. For the average food fanatic, this is very reassuring.